Synopsis
A rare, intimate account of a world-renowned Buddhist monk’s near-death experience and the life-changing wisdom he gained as a result.
'One of the most generous, beautiful, and essential books I’ve ever read – thoroughly engaging, so clear, so honest, so courageous and full of wisdom.' George Saunders
Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche’s experience begins the night he has chosen to embark on a four-year wandering retreat, slipping past the monastery gates. Alone for the first time in his life, he sets out into the unknown. His initial motivation is to step away from his life of privilege and to explore the deepest, most hidden aspects of his being, but what he discovers throughout his retreat – about himself and about the world around us – comes to define his meditation practice and teaching.
Just three weeks into his retreat, Rinpoche becomes deathly ill and his journey begins in earnest through this near-death experience. Moving, beautiful and suffused with local colour, In Love with the World is the story of two different kinds of death: that of the body and that of the ego, and how we can bridge these two experiences to live a better and more fulfilling life. Rinpoche’s skilful and intimate account of his search for the self is a demonstration of how we can transform our dread of dying into joyful living.
Details
07 May 2019
9781529016925Reviews
I loved this book. It is moving and inspiring, profound and utterly human. It will certainly be a classic. Mingyur’s life-changing adventure carries us with him and teaches us how to find the unshakable heart amidst it all.
One of the most inspiring books of our times. An extraordinary testimony and a profound teaching that keeps you reading with wonderment, page after page. A treasury of insights to go ever deeper in your spiritual practice and in giving meaning to your life.
With this book, we enter into the interior life of a remarkable young Buddhist teacher. After setting off by himself on a wandering retreat, he immediately encounters fear, aversion, sickness, and near death. Yet the same emotional and physical difficulties that would throw the average person for a loop become opportunities for Mingyur Rinpoche to work with his mind, and to deepen his commitment to transforming adversity into awakening. His willingness to describe this process in such intimate detail has been an immense help to my own path, and makes this one of the most inspiring books I have ever read.
Part thriller, part deeply personal autobiography, and part Buddhist teachings on how to live a meaningful life, this is an extraordinary book. It is a cliffhanger that recounts the journey of a modern wandering yogi who courageously gave up everything to challenge his mind and heart and live in the most difficult of circumstances. A gripping narrative of how the process of dying, letting go of our fixed selves and constraining habits, can liberate the human spirit and promote flourishing, this book has something profoundly important to teach each of us.
